The Leonard Library

iitjdiffp

Toronto

Shelf No.

Register No. /.? 5TC y

.. 19

ntiet>

es ar s IX L Sar ; on •ibalc stanc idon rrel

Pop. olutio manui as ill- i actua ie time

both i not de

Decerr rch, IS 2, and

irre, Eng to f

jun

power unn Vatican's 1

^^^^ 8^ The impei __ . _ tions betwe* I/ A I Qulrlnal is f V ii I the creatir I ll under \ giving th< side his o* It is be grounds < perties sui St. Peter's mark the I al State.

In these guards and t*ie zone, a accredited establish th area.

Ita]y ha« r

terests in Pa Own where Italian gaged in work interests thei regions now i disputes, is i Quirinal's chi with

Rome, i Missions Dur

ons betv,, During the id the i delegates of

cany

;newal ofsionaries an

atican anPlacement Countries.

g severed )erienced Neither missions I 'ficially ,r

a.ve been i)iere nevf «ring to ejjmbassadc

being

om the

anouncemeP^Y Grea This momftter be: imn, when 'HI BC S« III. is to biConver? eter's hurch of e expressed Ptorica

nd where hi1}}18, ich t> im. I

7111 Leave VtArher

lord

On this occ^onr 'ill leave theseer' me that any T^f y S70. and marc ?corting Pope ic streets of I\ 'alian soldiers •ill line the roi During the pa ave remainec -ithin the Vati. allv free to do

THE LAST DAYS OF PAPAL ROME

Pius IX.

THE LAST DAYS OF PAPAL ROME

1850- -1870

BY

R. DE CESARE

Abridged with the assistance of the Author and Translated by

HELEN ZIMMERN

With an Introductory Chapter by

G. M. TREVELYAN

ILLUSTRATED

LONDON

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE

AND COMPANY LIMITED

1909

THE LAST DAYS OF PAPAL ROME

1850 1870

BY

R. DE CESARE

Abridged with the assistance of the Author and Translated by

HELEN ZIMMERN

With an Introductory Chapter by

G. M. TREVELYAN

ILLUSTRATED

LONDON

ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE

AND COMPANY LIMITED

1909

BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

FOLLOWING up my former work, " The End of a Kingdom," in which I narrated the last years of the Neapolitan sovereignty, I now endeavour to picture the last years of Papal Rome, though I confess I do not wish to pass for the necrologist of the old Italian States.

I have employed the method made use of in the previous work on Naples, a method to which may be attributed the success it had, but I confess that, for the recent events of Roman life, the difficulty of research was much greater, if only because I have here covered a period of twenty years. Also there was nothing homogeneous about the Papal States, and the historical conditions of the provinces were substantially different on the two sides of the Apennines. Nor did the Holy See publish its diplo matic documents. Besides, ecclesiastics, as is well known, are more cautious in making revelations and confessions than are the laity.

To unfold that interesting and dramatic period which opened with the return of Pius IX. and closed with the fall of the temporal power, it was necessary to pause and weigh the mass of publications issued concerning the epoch, besides searching among

VI

PREFACE

private archives and familiar correspondence and also questioning survivors. More than once I was discouraged, and felt tempted to abandon the enter prise. Only the passion for research supported me in this arduous labour, which often appeared indis creet and was often painful, because it destroyed many a legend, dashed many a prejudice, and demolished many a romance. I was only encouraged by my desire to take a moral photograph of the Papal States and to perpetuate their memory.

Rome, since September 20, 1870, has so changed as to render the reconstruction of her past most difficult, a past complicated by historical circum stances and by reason of its geography ; a city not really in the centre of Italy, the political capital of a small Italian State and the religious capital of the Catholic world, girdled by a desert and marshes, almost skirting the sea, yet not a maritime city ; subject to the enervating sirocco, enclosed within walls, of which two-thirds surrounded villas, vine yards, meadows, malarial cane fields and ruins.

Notwithstanding the transformation caused by pulling down and rebuilding that has been so great as to cause the old city to be unrecognisable, this is as nothing compared with the moral revolution accomplished. The pyramid has been inverted. The laity, tolerated by the clemency of the ecclesiastics, has become their master ; a laity, not Roman, but national. And with this new power, new systems have been imposed and needs have arisen which it

PREFACE vii

seems incredible should have not been felt even before the day when Rome became the Italian capital. The old generation, of whom a few survive, is fast dis appearing, and when it shall have disappeared none will know what the city was like in its intimacy, with its social classes, its public and private economy, its government, its hierarchies, its relations with the larger world, its political conspiracies and intrigues, not to mention the confusion of the temporal and spiritual powers, a fertile source of those religious and political evils which, though they were no greater than the evils of the other Italian despotisms, had in the Papal States special characteristics of their own.

I may also remark that, for many centuries, the most contradictory verdicts have been passed upon Rome. Travellers and diplomats, scholars and archaeologists, sentimentalists and erudite men, from all quarters of the world, have created a Rome of their own, conventional or one-sided, with an equip ment of exaggerations, of prejudices and also of criticisms, occasionally just, in homage to her culture and tradition.

It was necessary to resuscitate that world, vanished since half a century, to grasp the true causes of events which, observed with partisan or doctrinal precon ceptions, have never been truthfully judged. The most rigorous research should be expended upon men, because the eternal material of history is man ; man, lay or cleric in his environment, with his passions, noble or vulgar, with his ideals of moral grandeur or

viii PREFACE

with the baseness of his petty egoisms. Unless historical phenomena are made to live again in their various manifestations, even the most negligible, it is difficult to reveal them truthfully. Still more is this the case in dealing with contemporary history and with the extraordinary events by means of which the political unity of a country, never before united, was achieved and a thousand-year-old power, which seemed immortal, was brought to an end.

This volume is, so to speak, real life lived by means of my own recollections and those of others. My collaborators have been too many to indicate them all ; not a few have vanished from the world ; others are old, and by them the past is remembered as a great ideal, dreamt of in youth, and attained or else dissipated by unexpected events. Contemporary publications, it often wanting in precision and objectivity, yet possess the merit of revealing the passions and exaggerations of the moment. I have employed these writings as the starting point for my investigations which aim at reproducing that Pontifical world upon which the political storm was about to burst and whose pre cursory signs appeared almost the very day of Pius IX. 's return to his capital. The events accom plished in twenty years prove to be the natural consequence of those historic laws from which the political Papacy flattered itself it was to be exempt.

If the fall of the Papal States lacks the tragic note struck by the end of the kingdom of Naples, the dramatic note was there. The historical importance

PREFACE ix

of the event was greater and more universal because of the sovereign's twofold capacity. While gradually despoiled of his temporal dominions, he remained in his religious capital with its Court and its depart ments. None desired his expulsion ; indeed, all were agreed in desiring his presence in Rome, guaranteed and honoured by Italian arms and laws as the head of Catholicism. The State expired under the Pontifi cate of one of the most sentimental and impulsive Popes ever possessed by the Church, who, after employing every weapon, spiritual and temporal, to keep his dominions, did not lack courage to resist even to the last. The temporal power fell, partly because it appeared no longer necessary to the Catholic conscience, which reasoned that, if exempted from political power, the Pontiff's independence and the liberty of the Church would be better guaranteed.

Many events are here for the first time recorded, referring not only to the Papal States but to Italian politics. They are revelations which, after so many years, can be published without indiscretion, illu minating essential points in our civil history and rectifying not a few errors. I have given a large place to anecdotes, for I hold that they illustrate and reanimate facts and make the personalities of the actors more vividly human.

The epoch of conventional history is passed, I mean of the old-fashioned history, dealing with wars, embassies, diplomatic intrigues and Court life, told in pompous and rhetorical sentences. History is

x PREFACE

now called upon to reproduce all human manifesta tions, all social life, in its simplest form. Also docu ments must be fused into the narrative, nay, tran substantiated, as ecclesiastical language has it, and never left to themselves.

I cannot conclude this preface without a word of gratitude to those who have lightened my task by assisting me in research. I must specially mention two names closely linked with the history of Italy, Marchese Emilio Visconti - Venosta and Count Costantino Nigra.

R. DE CESARE.

ROME,

Christmas, 1906.

CONTENTS

PAGE

AUTHOR'S PREFACE . . . « . . t . •% . v

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . ..."-, . xill

INTRODUCTION .. „ . , . -, - , . XV

CHAPTER

I. THE ENTRY OF THE POPE INTO ROME, 1850 . . . I II. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE OLD R&GIME — MACHINATIONS OF

THE SECRET SOCIETIES . . . . . . 13

III. RECALL OF BARAGUAY — NEW TAXES . . . . .26

IV. THE FIRST CONSISTORY — THE NEW MUNICIPALITY . . 40 V. REVIVAL OF COSMOPOLITAN LIFE . . . . • 51

VI. THE ARISTOCRACY 65

VII. SOCIAL LIFE AND ITS GRADES . . . ... 85

VIII. THE ROME OF YESTERDAY . . . * . . Io8

IX. PIUS IX. — THE DOGMA OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

— THE RAILWAYS 117

X. ART AND ARTISTS ........ 14!

XI. THE PONTIFICAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE PROVINCES . 156

XII. THE RAPE OF YOUNG MORTARA — THE JEWS IN ROME . 176

XIII. THEATRES AND NEWSPAPERS *&5 \S

XIV. THE GENERAL CONDITION OF THE STATES OF THE CHURCH

IN 1859 . . . . . . . ' . . . 198 ,

XV. THE EVE OF THE WAR — CONSPIRACIES AND DEMONSTRA TIONS IN ROME AND THE PROVINCES .... 2l8

XVI. THE RISING IN BOLOGNA AND OTHER PLACES . . . 234

XVII. THE POPE'S PROTESTS — THE CONGRESS .... 240

XVIII. THE UNIVERSITY 249

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XIX. THE TWO COMMITTEES 355

XX. THE HOLY SEE PREPARES FOR DEFENCE .... 268

XXI. THE CAMPAIGN OF i860 — CASTELFIDARDO .... 279

XXII. THE CAPITULATION OF ANCONA, ORVIETO AND VITERBO . 289

XXIII. NEGOTIATIONS AND NEGOTIATORS 297

XXIV. RICASOLI'S SCHEME — THE PETITION OF FATHER PASSAGLIA 31 1 XXV. THE SACRED COLLEGE 317

XXVI. THE FAUSTI CASE 334

XXVII. THE CONVENTION OF SEPTEMBER 15, 1864 . . . 347

XXVIII. THE VEGEZZI AND TONELLO MISSIONS .... 357

XXIX. DEPARTURE OF THE FRENCH FROM ROME. . . . 368

XXX. THREE MONTHS OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS — THE RETURN

OF THE FRENCH ..... . , . ., . . . . 377

XXXI. MENTANA, 1867 . . 393

XXXII. THE LAST TWO YEARS 406

XXXIII. THE ECUMENICAL COUNCIL 422

XXXIV. ON THE EVE 439

XXXV. THE TWENTIETH OF SEPTEMBER, 1870 .... 453

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

PIUS ix . . Frontispiece

THE DUKE OF SERMONETA, DOYEN OF THE ROMAN ARISTOCRACY

UNDER PIO NONO . . . . . . . • . 72

THE FARNESE PALACE AT ROME, COMMENCED UNDER POPE

PAUL III. , . *- . . . . . . 115

PADRE EDGARDO MORTARA . . . . . . . "177

CARDINAL ALTIERI, DON FERNANDO MUNOZ, GENERAL DE

LAMORICIERE, PRINCIPE FILIPPO DORIA PANFILI . . . 272

MGR. DE MERODE, WAR MINISTER OF PIO NONO IN i860 . . 341

CARDINAL ANTONELLI, CHIEF MINISTER AND SECRETARY OF STATE

TO THE POPE 345

THE PORTA PIA AFTER THE ENTRANCE OF THE ITALIAN ARMY

IN 1870 . ... 456

INTRODUCTION

AMONG the historians and scholars engaged on the period of the Italian Risorgimento, a numerous and effective body in the Italy of to-day, Signer De Cesare holds a high place. His reputation rests chiefly on his famous Fine di un regno, the history of the last years of the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and its fall in 1860 before Garibaldi's attack. Impartiality and intimate social and family knowledge are the special keynotes of his work, both in his "necrology" of the Kingdom of Naples, and in the somewhat similar work on the last years of the Papal Dominion in Central Italy, of which an abbreviated version is here presented to the British public.

A patriotic Italian, Signor De Cesare soberly rejoices in the fall of the two extraordinary governments of which he has left us such minutely photographic impres sions. But he has the impartiality of a man well able to see the faults of all parties and persons. He is as easily revolted by Liberal and Patriotic as by Clerical violence and rodomontade. He is full of sympathy with what was picturesque and kindly in the past, and of criticism for what is still unreformed in the new Rome. For the new Rome, as he clearly sees, is in some respects all too much the outcome of the old

xvi INTRODUCTION

Rome which it undertook to destroy. The picture of Pio Nono himself, kindly, narrow, pleasingly childish, shrewd in small matters and stupid about great affairs, writing charades on the word tremare (" to tremble ") at the last supreme moment when the Italian troops were pouring over the breach near the Porta Pia and the oldest monarchy in Europe was crumbling on his head (p. 455), is a good example of impartiality in historical portraiture.

Signer De Cesare's impartiality is largely a result of the other quality of his work — intimate social and family knowledge of his subject. Not so great an archivist as some other Italian scholars of the Risorgi- mento of the present generation, De Cesare stands alone for his personal knowledge of the traditions and " on dits " of a past epoch of society, and he is besides well qualified to sift truth from error in these old- world stories. The history of gossip has its own importance, but it is too rarely written by competent persons. For the last twenty years of the Temporal Power in Rome, this kind of knowledge is specially interesting and valuable. It enables us to know better than by any other means what were the spirit and character of that last and most completely antique relic of the old world which only forty years ago was still sitting crowned upon the Seven Hills. " De Cesare" — wrote Professor Alessandro Luzio in review ing this work when it appeared in Italy two years back — " De Cesare belongs to the very small class of Liberals who know Clerical society to the bottom, and

INTRODUCTION xvii

can find their way perfectly through the complicated psychology of the political priest (prete politico)."

One of the chief peculiarities of Papal Rome, the system of charities, is put in its rightly prominent place by De Cesare. The kindness of the Church was far more injurious than the severities, for the latter sometimes spurred even modern Romans to courage and rebellion. But the charities ruined Roman character. According to De Cesare, the system was not even Christian in origin, but the legacy of the Roman Empire and Republic (not Mazzini's Republic, but that of Pompey and Crassus). So old is Italian history. (See pp. 96 — 7.)

It may be well to remind those English readers who are unfamiliar with the history of the Risorgimento of the main outlines of the events in which the story of this book is set. The Temporal Power of the Popes, which, like all else Italian, had gone into the Napoleonic melting pot, was restored for another two generations as the result of Leipzig and Waterloo. The Pope's personal rule extended until 1859 — 60 from sea to sea, and included not only Rome and the district round it known as the Patrimony of St. Peter, but Umbria, covering the central Apennine districts, the Marches on the Adriatic coast, including Ancona, and the Romagna (The " Legations") in the southern part of the plain of Po, including Bologna and Ravenna. These four regions were all governed by priests and primarily for the purposes of religion, being marked

P.R. b

xviii INTRODUCTION

out from all other States of Europe by their Theo cratic character. They are therefore peculiarly inte resting as an object of study, and Signor De Cesare's work has greatly assisted such an investigation.

For more than thirty years the restored rule of the priests remained unshaken, although the severities of the harsh Pope Gregory XVI. (1831 — 1846) against the Liberal conspirators, and against all signs of modern change, did much to foster discontent. The succession of Pio Nono (Pius IX.) in 1846 ushered in a new era. His kindly disposition, which he and other Italians mistook for Liberal principles, set going in the Papal States and in the rest of Italy the movement for liberation. The movement went too fast and far for the Pope, and in the winter of 1848 — 9 the quarrel of ruler and subjects culminated in the dis graceful murder by the Democrats of Rossi, who stood between the parties, the flight of the Pope to Gaeta to take refuge with the King of Naples, and the pro clamation of the Roman Republic. The arrival of Mazzini and Garibaldi on the scene in the spring of 1849 lent to the movement dignity, romance, and some power of military resistance. But the end could not be long postponed. Austrian armies, now triumphant against Piedmont in the valley of the Po, re-established the Pope's authority in Romagna and the Marches, while the French clerical Republic (fast transforming itself into the military despotism of Napoleon III.) reconquered the city of Rome after the famous siege in June, 1849.

INTRODUCTION xix

It is at this point that Signer De Cesare takes up the story of the Papal States, which he continues down to the entry of the Italian troops into the city on September 20, 1870. The scene with which the first chapter opens (p. i, below) refers to the Pope's return to Rome from Gaeta in April, 1850, and to his parting with Ferdinand II., the famous despot of Naples, who had sheltered him during the period of the Roman Republic. The early chapters of the book are chiefly an account of the character of the restored rule of priests, now dependent on the French armies in the south and on the Austrian in the north of the Papal States ; and of the social and economic life of Rome and the Roman provinces of that day, which Signor De Cesare is peculiarly competent to compare, as he does with judicial impartiality, to the life of to-day.

In Chapters XV. — XVI. the political narrative is resumed, and the first stage in the dismemberment of the States of the Church is related. That first stage was the revolt of the Romagna, the most northern and the most progressive of the Papal provinces, whose inhabitants drove out the Pope's officers immediately after the Austrian garrison had been withdrawn, owing to the war of 1859 between Piedmont and France on the one hand and Austria on the other. Chapter XX. tells the story of the forma tion of the famous Papal Army of Crusaders from all countries, including Ireland, Austria, Belgium, and France, to enable Pius IX. to protect his remaining

xx INTRODUCTION

provinces, especially Umbria and the Marches, threatened by the revolution which was being organised across the frontier under the shield of the Piedmontese Monarchy. The Pope wished for a force of his own, in order not to depend solely on the aid of Napoleon III., which was alike unwillingly given and grudgingly received. In 1860 the crisis came. Garibaldi successfully invaded Sicily and Naples, destroying the Bourbon Kingdom, as Signor De Cesare has described in his Fine di un regno. Cavour, to recover the lead of the patriotic movement for Victor Emmanuel and for himself, with wise rashness deter mined to attack the Papal territories from the north (pp. 275 — 6, below). The situation created by Garibaldi and his volunteers in the south enabled Cavour to destroy the Papal dominion in the centre of Italy. In September, 1860, the Piedmontese regular army invaded Umbria and the Marches and destroyed the newly-formed Papal army in the field of Castel Fidardo (Chaps. XXI.— XXII.).

Napoleon, however, protected the city of Rome and the province in which it is situated (The Patrimony of St. Peter) from the general ruin. Shrunk to this little measure, the Temporal Power dragged out an uneasy existence for ten years longer. The book there fore divides itself here (p. 297). Chapters I. — XXII. describe the government of a State stretching from sea to sea, full of famous though scarcely of flourish ing cities. Chapters XXIII. to the end describe the government of a diminished State that was

INTRODUCTION xxi

scarcely more than the poverty-stricken district round Rome.

The two chief incidents in this last period of the Papal Power are, first, the unfortunate Mentana affair (1867), when the Italian Government and Garibaldi, who was now growing old, between them failed as completely as they had succeeded in 1860 (Chaps. XXIX.— XXXI.), and secondly the famous Council that declared the Infallibility (Chap. XXXIIL). The book ends (Chap. XXXV.) with the entry of the Italian troops on September 20, 1870, as an imme diate consequence of the battle of Sedan. Since that day the Popes, left in full sovereignty of the Vatican Palace and grounds, which thus still represent the " Papal States," have refused to leave their residence there, by way of protest against the Italian occupation of Rome. But during the ponti ficate of the present Pope the protest has become, if not merely nominal, at least admittedly unreal. The present Pope, though perhaps as little Liberal in theological matters as any of his predecessors, is spoken of as a " good Italian."

A recent work of considerable historical value has been published by Mons. Bourgeois in France, entitled " Rome et Napoleon III." We may notice that much the same conclusions are arrived at by the Italian as by the French historian. " The Roman question," writes De Cesare, " was the stone tied to Napoleon's "feet that dragged him into the abyss. He never "forgot, even in August, 1870, a month before Sedan,

xxii INTRODUCTION

" that he was sovereign of a Catholic country, that he "had been made Emperor and was supported by the " votes of the Conservatives and the influence of the "clergy; and that it was his supreme duty not to "abandon the Pontiff. He cherished the conviction "that Rome, owing to her history and her moral and "political conditions, would never rise against the Pope, " that any revolutionary movements were impotent ; " and, therefore, by guaranteeing Rome to the Pope, he "was persuaded that he was at the same time " guaranteeing the independence of the Romans. He ll also cherished a chivalrous sentiment towards " Pius IX. very different from that which Pius bore " towards him. If the Pope, in his conversations " with Ambassadors and in his official speeches, over- " flowed with good will towards the Emperor of the " French, in reality he never trusted him, and it almost " seemed as if he shared the prejudices of the more " vulgar clerical world, who had baptised Napoleon " the Devil's son " (pp. 440 — i, below).

It was by his refusal to abandon Rome to Italy that Napoleon forfeited the Italian and thereby the Austrian alliance against Prussia in the decisive war of 1870.

" The phrase/' continues De Cesare, " attributed "later to the Empress, Better the Prussians in Paris " than the Piedmontese in Rome, was conceived in the " exaggerated spirit that dominated the politicians who " surrounded the Emperor and urged him by many " pretexts into a senseless and needless war when

INTRODUCTION xxiii

" he was ill and unwilling and unprepared, and with " an unprecedented hurry, which placed France in "the wrong before all the world." So the French Catholics were paid for their ill-treatment of Italy by the subjugation of their own country to Prussia, and by the establishment of the Third Republic. The price has proved decidedly heavy, even for the pleasure of leading some hundreds of Garibaldini in triumph through the streets of Rome after the battle of Mentana.

G. M. TREVELYAN.

it men j culir

t- T

EG € 36, 6, W 1 SOI

THE LAST DAYS OF PAPAL ROME

CHAPTER I

THE ENTRY OF THE POPE INTO ROME

11 "W" BLESS you, I bless your family, your kingdom, your people. I know not how to express my gratitude for the hospitality extended to me," said the Pope, taking leave of his royal host.

" I have done nothing," answered the King, " I have but fulfilled my duty as a Christian."

" Yes," replied the Pope in a voice full of emotion, "your loyal affection has been great and sincere."

This parting took place in the afternoon of April 6, 1850, at Epitafno, on the frontier between Fondi and Terracino, and the event is commemorated in the picture now hanging in the Vatican, painted by Bigioli. In it Pius IX. is seen embracing Ferdinand II. of Naples, the Crown Prince kneeling before him. On his right stand Cardinals Antonelli and Dupont, the prelate Medici d'Ottaiano, major-domo, Borromeo, chamberlain, Hohenlohe, cameriere segreto, and Mon- signor Stella, all of whom had travelled with him. There are besides the Minister of Public Works, Prince Gabrielli, who acted as Minister of War, and

P.R. B

2 THE LAST DAYS

other less important persons who had met the Pope at Epitaffio.

By the King's side is seen his brother, Count d'Aquila, their brother-in-law, Sebastiano di Spagna, Monsignor Garibaldi, Papal Nuncio at Naples, and other dignitaries. The only person on horseback is Major Alfredo Dentice di Frasso, clad in the magni ficent hussar uniform of the Royal Guards. This officer, a member of the highest aristocracy of Naples, was in command of the squadron which escorted the Pope from Caserta to Terracino. Ferdinand II., desirous of showing Pius IX. a special mark of reverence, accompanied him, not only to Portella, the limit of the Neapolitan frontier, but as far as Epitaffio, the Pontifical frontier, and caused him to be escorted up to the gates of Rome by Neapolitan soldiers, while the horses for his carriage, as far as Terracino, were supplied by the Neapolitan posts.

The journey lasted eight days, for, in consequence of bad roads and almost continuous rain, it could only proceed by short stages. Starting by train from Postici, April 8, the party slept at Caserta, and the next day, the Pope, accompanied by the King and Princes, rode in a roomy but heavy travelling coach, made in Naples, and drawn by six horses; the handles were shaped like Pontifical keys, but without the triple crown. After dining at Capua with the archbishop, they slept at Sessa, and the next day found them at the bridge of Garigliano, where the inhabitants had assembled to receive the benediction. Thence they

OF PAPAL ROME 3

proceeded to Gaeta. Here the Pope visited the cathedral, heard Mass, and permitted the authorities to kiss his foot. In the archiepiscopal palace a sumptuous repast was served, after which the Pope blessed the troops and populace from the palace balcony, while from the fort of Santa Maria and the men-of-war the guns thundered a salute, and the church bells rang merrily.

Accompanied by the King and the Duke of Calabria, the Pope re-entered the carriage, and when Epitaffio was reached and the King and Princes got out, the major-domo and chamberlain took their place, remain ing with him until they reached Rome.

At Terracina, where they arrived after midnight, were assembled the Ministers of the Interior, Finance, and Justice, and Princess Giuseppina Lancellotti. Here Pius IX. beheld for the first time this portion of his dominions, and the first impression, on leaving the fertile plains of Fondi, covered with beautiful vine yards, majestic oak-trees and groups of blossoming fruit-trees, must have been painful. Between Portella and Epitaffio lay an almost barren, neutral zone, four kilometres broad, and winding between the sea and the hills, covered with thin woods, ran the old Appian Way. This low marshy country has ever been the home of smugglers and highwaymen.

Instead of taking the good reclaimed road by way of Cisterna, the longest route and least good road was chosen, although the carriage wheels sank deep into the mud. But the Pope desired to visit

B 2

4 THE LAST DAYS

Frosinone, Velletri, Ceccano, Valmontone, Ferentino, and Alatri.

Every now and again the travellers met groups of peasantry, more curious than enthusiastic, led by priests. Some triumphal arches, of primitive design, had been erected by the zeal of the chapters. Wherever a sacred memorial was in evidence, or he met a group of representative clergy praying for the privilege of kissing his foot, the Pope halted. At the abbey of Fossanuova he visited the cell where St. Thomas had died, and knelt before the crucifix that had spoken with the philosopher. Pius IX. travelled modestly, without any of the pomp which, seven years before, had distinguished the passage of Gregory XIV. On the evening of April 10, tired out, he reached Velletri, lodging in the Legate's palace where a year previously Ferdinand II. and Garibaldi had been entertained. The following day he visited churches and convents, conversing with the faithful.

On April 12, a Friday, the last stage was reached. There were not lacking those who deemed the fact of evil augury. Starting at eight, lunch was provided at Albano by the bishop. The Pope asked for a cup of soup, but was told that, as it was Friday, it could not be had. Smiling, and without resentment, his Holiness bowed before the strictness of the bishop. His train was now considerably augmented owing to the crowd that had poured out of Rome. At Gen- zano, the last stage of the squadron of Neapolitan hussars being accomplished, the officers received the

OF PAPAL ROME 5

Papal thanks and permission to kiss his foot. They were replaced by a squadron of Cacciatori Affricani. Descending through Albano between the fertile vine yards of Marino and Grottoferrato, they proceeded gaily amid the curious looks of the crowd that continued to increase as the gates of Rome were approached.

The entry was fixed for four o'clock. The people flocked through the Porta S. Giovanni. The inns overflowed with excited crowds. All were curious to see the Pope after so many vicissitudes and an absence of seventeen months. The French and Pontifical troops lined the way as far as St. Peter's. Volleys were fired as soon as the plumed couriers could be discerned, announcing, at half-hour intervals, the approach of the procession. Upon the steps of St. John Lateran the spectacle assumed an almost theatrical aspect, consisting of groups of cardinals in red, prelates, municipal councillors in purple, besides the bright dresses of the Diplomatic Corps, of the students, seminarists, and various monastic orders who had received an injunction from the Cardinal-Vicar to be present.

The Government Commission of three Cardinals, called the " Red Triumvirate," had notified the people that the Pope was returning to his dominions, thanks to the valour of his Catholic soldiers. The zealous Cardinal Patrizi had arranged for the simul taneous ringing of all the church bells, to last two hours, as soon as the gun of St. Angelo announced

6 THE LAST DAYS

that the procession had reached the gate, and also that during three days in place of the collect "pro Papa" the prayer "pro gratiarum actione" be recited. The Provisional Municipal Commission also had made known the return of the Pope, beside deciding solemnly to present His Holiness with the keys ol the city. As they were anxious to reproduce the mediaeval ceremony with the greatest exactitude, two small keys were especially cast.

Preceded by a squadron of French soldiers, and amid cries of " Long live the Pope ! Holy Father, a benediction ! " Pius IX. passed the gate, his car riage drawing up by the steps of the Basilica. He descended amid deafening shouts. The Municipal Commission knelt, and Alibrandi read an address. This ceremony ended, the Pope was surrounded by the Diplomatic Corps, decked in their bright uniforms. The simplest dress, prominent also by the absence of all decorations, was that of the United States Minister, Colonel Caff.

The whole company entered the church, where Cardinal Benedetto gave the benediction. That over, the Pope retired to the Sacristy and prepared himself for the official entry. A gala carriage, when opened on the side, exposed him to public view. He wore his red mantle over his white cassock, and a red hat. Two Monsignori sat opposite to him, while, at the right-hand door, rode the French General, and, at the left, the commander of the Noble Guard. The carriages of the cardinals, of the Municipality, and

OF PAPAL ROME 7

of the Diplomatic Corps followed. The procession, long and picturesque, recalled a great sixteenth- century pageant. Pius IX., who was in good spirits, and seemed to have grown younger during his exile, was seen to exchange comments and jokes with the two prelates, every now and again raising his hand and graciously blessing the crowd that prostrated itself as he passed, crying, " Long live Pius IX. ! Holy Father, bless us ! " But the cries became fewer as they proceeded. Their progress was slow ; about one hour elapsed before reaching St. Peter's. After receiving the blessing from Cardinal Mattei, the Pope kissed the foot of the Prince of the Apostles, and with quick step entered the Vatican by the interior staircase, no longer disguising his need for repose.

That night all Rome was illuminated, especially the poorer quarters. Fearing disturbances, both police forces, Pontifical and French, had made some arrests. Upon the church fa9ades could be read allegorical epigrams. The following day, and for some time after, there was no church without a three- days' celebration with appropriate Te Deum, no academy, seminary or college without its com memoration of the happy return. Three days were also dedicated to funeral services in memory of the French soldiers who had fallen during the siege. The Pontiff ordered that a great Te Deum be chanted in the chief church on each anniversary of General Oudinot's entrance into Rome. This was observed until July 3, 1870.

8 THE LAST DAYS

Three days after his return, Pius IX. visited Santa Maria Maggiore, for he was anxious to go out. That morning he received the Diplomatic body in solemn audience, and at three, without any pomp, after halting at the Basilica Liberiana, he proceeded straight to the French Military Hospital. Distri buting crosses, crucifixes, and medals to the wounded, he chatted with the wounded about their families, country, and religion. Enthusiastic and much moved, they all cried " Long live the Pope ! "

The following day, in the Piazza. S. Pietro, the fourteen thousand men of the " liberating " army passed in review before the Pope, who, surrounded by his household, from a balcony erected for the purpose upon the steps of the Basilica, bestowed upon them his Apostolic blessing.

One of Pius IX. 's early visits was paid to the Janiculum, where evidences of the siege could still be seen, and, descending from his carriage near Paul V.'s fountain, he listened to explanations given by the Noble Guards. He demanded to see where the hardest fighting had occurred, and, while still on foot he passed into the Villa Doria, praising the Prince who had erected a memorial chapel to the fallen Frenchmen. He showed, however, more curiosity than emotion. It was whispered that the Pope had visited the Janiculum to rejoice over the success of the assailants, and it was, perhaps, on this account that, the day following, April 30, the first anniversary of the last military good fortune of the